Grade Grief
by SerenityCourage
Summary: When Palmer enlists Abby to to cover up a lie he told to Ducky, neither of their bosses are happy. Will contain spanking.
1. Chapter 1

"You're late, Mr. Palmer."

Jimmy Palmer hurried into Autopsy, running ten minutes late and looking sufficiently frazzled.

"I'm sorry, doctor. I slept through my alarm and it's been chaos ever since."

Ducky hid a fond smile and bit his lip to keep from laughing. He really did enjoy winding the poor boy up.

"That's quite alright, Mr. Palmer. Just don't let it happen again."

Palmer sputtered out apologies, as he hung his coat on the stand in the corner of the very white and sterile room. He hadn't actually worn it that day, only put it on in the elevator . It was easier that way because he really wanted to avoid a repeat performance of his boss's lecture on taking care of one's own health that he'd gotten the last time he came in without a coat.

Jimmy quickly dropped his keys and a series of different sized envelopes onto the desk.

"I can assure you, Mr. Palmer, that you won't need your mail to help you do your job today. Mr. Delson, has no interest in your electric bill."

"Sorry again, Doctor Mallard. I didn't have the time to take it inside after I got it from the mailbox."

Ducky nodded absently, glancing at the desk a particular envelope caught his sharp eye.

"Is that your transcript, Jimmy?"

He didn't wait for an answer, only crossed the room with excited strides, that, if Ducky had not been a respectable grown man, might be considered skipping.

"Um...Doctor Mallard? Maybe, you should..."

Jimmy gave up on deterring the man and quickly stepped into the far corner of Autopsy, making himself look both busy and unobtrusive.

Ducky scanned down the list of grades and beamed in pride. His assistant was a very bright young man. Suddenly, his face fell into a frown as he came to the last result on the page. He whirled around, flabbergasted, and stared in bewilderment at the college student in front of him.

"James Palmer!" he finally cried at, stalking his way ominously towards his assistant.

"You promised me! Promised! Promised that you'd never fail a class again! And it's even the same course as before! Have you even been attending?"

Truthfully, no, he hadn't. It was his only class on Friday, and he'd never felt like leaving work after a long, hard day and going straight to class. It wasn't as if he needed the credits, he made them up with an extra course that he'd taken earlier in his college years. He had nothing to gain from the class but unwanted knowledge.

Ducky's face softened as he came to a realization.

"Do you need help, dear boy? I should have thought of this earlier. It would be no trouble at all if you needed me to take some time to study with you."

The offer was unappealing to Palmer, who could have passed the class with flying colors if he'd actually been there to take the tests. Plus, the way his boss was looking at him, a mixture of sympathy and understanding, was making him feel guilty. So, he did what anyone in his position would do. He thought up a lie.

"It isn't right," he blurted out.

"What?"

Ducky seemed confused by his assistants' announcement.

"T-the transcript," Jimmy stuttered out. "The professor made a mistake entering the grades into the computer and it didn't get fixed by the time these were sent out. The campus promised to send a new one by Friday."

Ducky's eyes lit up.

"So you passed?"

Now, you see, this would have been a good time for Palmer to fess up to everything. Yes, Ducky would have thrown a royal fit, but it is best to get these things over with and out of the way.

"I-I passed."

Or not. Procrastination is good too.

"This is wonderful, Mr. Palmer! You don't know how happy you've made me."

And with those words, all the guilt was gone, evaporated from his stomach without a trace. What's the big deal about a little white lie when his boss was this excited?

Ducky placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you, Jimmy. I'm so sorry that I doubted you."

And, there's that guilt again.

~*~

The day was long for Jimmy Palmer. It felt like knives twisting in his stomach as Ducky related the story of his "mixed up" transcript to every poor soul, dead or alive, who entered Autopsy.

Jimmy's face flamed when Ducky raved about his top marks to Agent Gibbs' team. Tony snickered and winced as he felt a hard hand collide with the back of his head.

"That's a good job, Palmer."

Even Agent Gibbs was being nice.

"Of course," Ducky went on, "He'll bring in his new transcript when it gets here."

"Of course," Palmer squeaked out.

Apparently, the universe hated Jimmy Palmer.

~*~

Before he left for the day, Palmer made one last stop. He needed help, and there was only one person who could provide it.

"Jimmy!" she squealed running to hug him, "I heard all about your grades! Great job!"

Jimmy ran a nervous hand over the back of his neck.

"About that, Abby. I need a favor."

"Whatever you need, Palmer."

Abby bounced over to her computer to check on its progress.

"I need you to duplicate this," he held up the transcript with two fingers, as if it were radioactive.

She picked it up and scanned down the page and looked at him in confusion.

"You want me to make a copy of your transcript?"

Nodding, he slowly made his way towards her.

"Basically yes, but you just need to change that last grade there."

Muttering to herself, she tried to understand exactly what he wanted. Palmer was acting hinky. Finally, her head snapped up, and she stared up at him in horror.

"It isn't a mistake is it? You really failed that class!"

She gasped as she came to a second realization even more terrible than Jimmy failing.

"You want me to lie to Ducky!"

-=-=-=-=-

Okay, this one took a while because I really wanted to get Ducky and Palmer close to their characters. There will be two or three more chapters, I'm not sure yet. A big thanks to Julie507 for suggesting a very important part of this story! This will have both Palmer and Abby in trouble with Ducky and Gibbs respectively. I think I'll start my Tony and Abby one soon. I like to multitask, so neither this or Second Chances would suffer.

Thanks a bunch!


	2. Chapter 2

"Not _lie_," Jimmy corrected, "Think of it as...keeping a secret. You don't have to tell Ducky everything."

"He's going to mention your grades, Jimmy," Abby whined, "It is lying if I just go along with it."

He established a firm grip o her shoulders and urged her to look him in the eye.

"If he brings it up, all you have to do is bob your head to your music in a way that may, or may not be mistaken for nodding. Can you do that?"

She fidgeted in indecision.

"I don't know..."

"Come on, Abby," he sighed, "What are you afraid of?"

Abby blushed and glared at him. She knew _exactly_ what would happen if she got caught, and it wasn't good news for her butt. And, chances were that she _would _get caught. Lying wasn't a skill that she was particularly adept at. _Although_, she'd never tried to lie to Ducky before. There was a slight chance that he'd never know.

"Fine, Palmer. Leave it here."

~*~

Jimmy was very impressed with Abby's work when she thrust it under his nose the next day. It looked exactly like the first one, but it had the correct changes. They might just be able to pull this off.

What worried him though, was Abby herself. She had been literally squirming with guilt when he saw her that morning, and anyone with the half a mind could tell that something was wrong. Fortunately, not even Gibbs' team could figure out just what was going on.

~*~

"You're acting weird."

Abby spun on her heel and aimed a punch at McGee's shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For calling me weird."

"I technically did not call you weird, I simply-"

He shut up when a second punch landed next to the first one.

"You have to admit, Abby, you do seem like you're up to something."

Tony snickered when his comment earned poor McGee another blow.

"I didn't even say anything that time! It was Tony!"

"Well, I couldn't reach Tony."

"That's hardly fai- Ouch, would you stop doing that?!"

Any other time, Abby probably wouldn't have been abusing McGee, but she'd been wound tight all morning, just waiting for her lie to blow up in her face.

McGee raised his fist to strike back, albeit gentler than any of her punches. It paused in midair at his boss's stern tone.

"Don't you do it, McGee."

"Gibbs, she's been hitting me all-Never mind. I'll get over it."

It really was impossible to pick on Abby with Gibbs there.

By midday, most of the visitors had filtered out of the lab, leaving Abby alone with Ducky for the first time since Jimmy told her about the grades. Immediately, she began to babble about anything in her lab that caught her eye, knowing that any silence was an opportunity to let something slip. Of course, that fact that she nearly swallowed her own tongue when he brought up that fact that Jimmy had brought in his new transcript might have led him to believe that something was bothering her.

"Abigail? Are you alright?"

Abby remembered Palmer's earlier words and nodded her head enthusiastically, bottom lip clenched tightly between her teeth to keep her secrets in.

Ducky stared at her in concern.

"You don't seem alright, my dear."

She let out a tiny shriek as she felt a searing pain in her lip, and her hand flew up to stop the bleeding. In her nervousness, she had bitten through her own lip. Shaking her head vigorously, she let out a low whine an resisted Ducky's efforts to remove her hand from her face.

"Abby! Abby, you need to let me have a look!"'

And so, when Ducky left her ten minutes later, she was in pain, but she hadn't let Jimmy's secret slip. That man was so going to owe her when this was all over.

~*~

As it turned out, Abby wasn't the one who ended up letting the cat out of the bag. It wasn't even an accident.

You see, when one is left to stew in their own guilt for any period of time, they are liable to either go entirely insane, go partially insane, or confess. If you're lucky, the confessing thing usually gets rid if the guilt without the use of extensive therapy.

"Dr. Mallard? The transcript. It's fake."

Well, at least Palmer had _some_ good luck this week.

"Pardon?"

Hardening his resolve, Palmer related his entire story, refusing to look at his mentor until he was done. Finally, after he had explained everything, leaving Abby out of it, he looked up into sad eyes.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Palmer."

Jimmy nodded and turned to leave autopsy.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"U-um, Doctor? We're done for the day. I-I thought you wouldn't want to talk."

Ducky stared at him sternly.

"You thought wrong."

The younger man nodded, relieved that his boss was still on speaking terms with him.

"If you would be so kind as to go get it, Mr. Palmer, I believe that your belt would be most useful for this particular talk."

_-_-_-_

Okay! Next chapter ought to be up soon. I had the strangest flashbacks of my older brothers getting me into trouble when I wrote the scene with Abby and Jimmy. Originally, I had Gibbs handling Abby and Ducky taking care of Jimmy. However, the more I thought about it, I realized that Ducky really should be the one to talk to Abby. Any objections to that? I thought it might be fun to write Ducky's reaction to having to discipline her. It's not set in stone, so it could go either way.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

"D-doctor Mallard? Why..."

"Punishment, Mr. Palmer. You didn't really think that I'd let this go without consequences, did you?"

"Of course not, doctor, but I don't see why we need my belt to...oh, oh! You don't mean-"

"You're stalling, Jimmy."

A reluctant autopsy gremlin handed over his belt hesitantly. Ducky sighed, he hadn't wanted to have to do this, but his suddenly active paternal instincts wouldn't allow him to ignore his assistant's bad behavior. He had to make it clear that lying wouldn't be accepted.

"Turn around and lean over the autopsy table, if you would, Jimmy. Let's get this over with quickly, shall we?"

Jimmy fidgeted, but didn't obey.

"If that's too much of a bother, Mr. Palmer, I won't hesitate to bend you over my knee."

Had the autopsy table not been bolted to the floor, it would've been knocked over in his haste to get in position.

"I'm sorry, doctor."

A gentle hand was pressed to his back, and he immediately relaxed his muscles.

"So am I."

And with that, the reassurance was put on pause, replaced by firm lashes of the belt. Leather met scrubs in a flurry of smacks that were guaranteed to smart for hours. Ducky winced and reminded himself that this was necessary, and would be over soon enough.

Palmer, however was handling this whole situation slightly differently. It was impossible to stay stoic for long, at least that was what he liked to tell himself as he listened to his cries echo around the room.

Just as quickly as it started, the belt stopped stoking the fire on his ass and was dropped to the floor. The same hand that had earlier restrained his thrashing, ran up and down his spine, soothing his tense position.

"You're just fine, Jimmy. It's all over."

Ducky helped the younger man straighten himself, before giving him proper space to clear his head. Plucking something up off the desk, he strode out of the room with a purpose. When he entered again, he grinned widely and went to the coat rack.

"Take your time, Mr Palmer. Your professor won't leave campus for another two hours."

Jimmy nodded, before freezing and whirling around.

"_What?" _

The older man waved his hand about, absentmindedly.

"Well, your grade can't stay like it is now. I've just spoken to your professor, he seems very pleasant, and he's agreed to speak with me this afternoon. Two scholars like ourselves should have the situation solved in no time. All, done? The keys to the my car are in my jacket pocket. Go ahead, I'll be along soon."

Sputtering incoherently for a moment, Palmer soon realized that he wasn't getting out of this and made his way to the exit.

"Oh, and Mr. Palmer?"

"Yes, doctor?"

"I'm assuming it was Abigail who helped you with this, and not Timothy? I really should have picked up on that earlier."

"Oh...umm...Abby didn't-"

"Jimmy..."

"Yes doctor, Abby helped."

Ducky sank down onto the autopsy table and sighed.

"I was afraid of that."

Once Jimmy was gone, he stood quickly and picked up the phone, dialing the extension for the bullpen.

"Hello, Jethro. I'm afraid we have a problem on our hands."

"Don't we always, Duck?"

* * *

Alright, there it is! Short, but hopefully sweet! Judging by the results on my poll, I've decided that you're all brats. Seriously? Did you _plan_ a three way tie? So, since I'm about to become a mum, and I need to learn to spoil people, there are _three_ endings on the way. Next is Ducky handling Abby's punishment, hope you like it!

Thanks for reading!


	4. First Ending

_**~For those of you who haven't read my last author's note, the next few chapters might be a bit confusing for you. I suggest you go back and read that for clarification. Thank you very much, and enjoy! **_

After Ducky had explained everything that Jimmy had told him, putting particular emphasis on Abby's part in it all he waited for his old friend to answer.

"Well, Jethro? What do you plan to do about this?"

"Aw, hell, Duck. I-"

"I can't tolerate this, Jethro! It needs to be made clear to Abigail that lying to me isn't acceptable!"

"I know, Duck. I agree with you, but-"

"What but? I really despise having to say this, but I feel that she needs to punished!"

"I was going to say that I think _you _need to do it, Duck."

"I was afraid that you'd say that."

* * *

A little while later, after Ducky had confirmed that Abby would still be in her lab when he'd finished speaking with his assistant's professor, he sat in his car, thinking over his situation.

He'd expected the time would come where he would have to discipline Jimmy. The younger man was like a son to him, and he was aware that parenting wasn't an easy job. Granted, Jimmy was far from being a child, but adulthood didn't coincide with perfect behavior.

However, Ducky never would have guessed that he would even _consider_ punishing _Abby_. A son was one thing, but a granddaughter was an entirely different idea. How could he go through with this?

He'd tried to persuade Jethro that taking away Caf-Pow! for a week could be a very adequate punishment, but the man held steadfast, stating that if it wasn't taken care of by the end of the day, he would take care of it himself.

Making an attempt to rub the stress out of his temples, Ducky wrapped his head around what he was about to do. He was going to _spank _his little lotus blossom. It was a concept that almost made physically sick to his stomach.

Realizing that he'd been sitting in the parking lot of the NCIS building, he slipped out of his old Morgan and strode purposely toward the building. It was time to get this out of the way.

* * *

"Abigail?"

Abby spun around and grinned.

"Ducky! What are you doing here? I thought you left. Not that I'm not glad that you're here, because I am of course. It's ju-"

"We need to have a little talk."

She hesitated and shifted her eyes.

"About what? I'm all ears."

Sighing, caught her arm and lead her slowly to the nearest lab chair. It would be better if it was nearby.

"You _lied _to me, Abigail."

"W-what? What makes you say that, Duck-man?"

She stuttered and her eyes widened. She was done for.

"I recently had an interesting conversation with Mr. Palmer."

_Palmer, you snitch!_

"He tried to keep you out of it, but I figured it out anyw-"

"I'm _sorry_, Ducky!"she wailed, throwing her arms around him. It was hard to tell wether she was upset at being caught, or relieved that she didn't have to hide things anymore.

Ducky patted her back gently and sat down in the chair.

"Be that as it may, Abby, punishment still needs to be administered."

"You didn't tell Gibbs did you?"

It would be too horrible to imagine. She'd never lied to Gibbs personally, but she sure didn't want to see how that would work out for her butt.

"Yes, I did tell Gibbs. He was very disappointed in you, as am I. Although, he also felt that it was best that he didn't deal with the consequences of your actions. I should"

Abby's sigh of relief was cut short into a hacking cough of surprise. Surely Ducky wouldn't-

"So now, let's get this over with my dear. Come here, please."

She shook her head and backed up, hands automatically reaching back to cover her bottom. She still wasn't sure that he would actually do it, but it could never hurt to be prepared. Kevlar for her ass really would be a worthwhile investment.

"Abigail, I'd really hate to have to come get you."

She inched forward slowly, locking eyes with Ducky and making it clear that she was coming, but she wasn't in any hurry.

"Abby..."

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy Ducky? I mean-"

"Are _you _implying that I'm old and brittle?"

Finally, after more cajoling and scolding than should have been necessary, Abby ended up bent over his lap, awaiting the pain. It couldn't be as bad as Gibbs, right?

Smack!

Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! That freaking hurt! How the hell did his hand get so hard?

The hard slaps rained down and Ducky lectured the entire time. He wasn't a silent like Gibbs. She hadn't really expected that, but it made sense. He could talk while cutting open a body, why not now?

Tears came fast, guilt driving them all the way. Abby wasn't fairing too well either, sobbing like a child and trying not to kick and hurt Ducky. Just as suddenly as it started, the spanking stopped abruptly, and the older man began rubbing circles on her back

"There, there, my dear. It's all over, I _promise_, my little lotus blossom."

He helped her stand and pulled her into his arms, reaching up to pull her head into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Ducky. I just wanted to help Jimmy."

"I know, Abby," He said dropping a friendly kiss to her forehead, "But next time, you need to find a way to help that doesn't involve lying."

Ducky didn't leave the lab for a long time, and when he finally started home, he turned back when he heard her shout for him.

"Ducky, you know that I understand, right? I know that you had to do it, and I couldn't blame you if I tried."

His face lit up and he hugged her one last time.

With any luck, Jethro would have bourbon waiting in his basement.

* * *

Okay! Next, will probably be Ducky with Gibbs there for support. I'm actually hoping to put out something every day for a week now. Whether it be updating, or some of my new things, I'll try.


	5. Second Ending

Gibbs sighed as he set the phone down, rubbing a frustrated hand over his face.

_Abby_.

Sometimes it seemed like she _tried _to get in as much trouble as possible. Standing up out of his chair, he grabbed the unfinished paperwork off his desk and split the large pile in two. Dropping half the stack onto each agent's desk and ignoring their sputtering protests, Gibbs pressed the down button on the elevator.

He wasn't paid enough for this.

Abby was blissfully unaware of the trouble she was in when he entered the lab. She was bouncy as usual, noise that could hardly be called music playing in the background. Her pigtails swayed as she bobbed her head to the music, and the popsicle that Ducky had prescribed to ease the pain from her sore lip narrowly missed each time that her black hair swung back and forth.

"Abby "

She whirled around and beamed at her boss, happy to have company. He nodded his head towards the stereo that was the source of all the racket, and she rolled her eyes in good humor, snapping her fingers as she danced her way over to shut it off.

"Evening Gibbs " she chirped, finishing off her popsicle and tossing the stick into the trash, "What brings you to the exciting world of forensic science tonight?"

"Just had a talk with Duck about Palmer. Didn't get those grades after all. He lied."

Abby scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. Her copy had been perfect, she was _sure _of it. How had it blown up in poor Jimmy's face?

"Well, that's terrible, Gibbs. I'm shocked at him."

"It gets worse. Seems that he had some help."

Color running from her face, she looked up into Gibbs' face.

Shit, he knew.

Her hand seemed to act of it's own accord, and, in a move that Abby was sure that she would regret later, it moved up slowly to the door handle, flicking at the wrist to snap it shut and turn the lock.

She was a dead woman for sure, now.

Gibbs stared at her, eerily calm. That wasn't a good sign, she decided.

"Open the door, Abigail,"

Her head shook side to side in slow deliberate motions.

"Now, Abby."

"No thank you. I personally like the plate of glass between us right now. It's bullet resistant, Gibbs, so you might as well go away now."

He shrugged and walked out of her line of vision. That was bad, he was most dangerous when you couldn't see him. Although, he was definitely scarier when you could.

When he returned, he was holding the one thing that the door couldn't protect her from, and she groaned in fear at the sight.

The glass may be able to stop a bullet, but _key_-resistant it was not.

Damn it. Abby had the sickening feeling that she'd just made things a whole lot worse for herself.

Gibbs slid the glass back and stepped in carefully.

"You just made things a whole lot worse for yourself."

Feeling confirmed.

Before she had time to think, her lab chair was pulled out and she felt her self being eased over Gibbs' lap.

Well, this sucked.

A hard hand came down on her backside and she tried to wriggle away. Her poor butt was peppered firm smacks again and again.

And to think, she'd been feeling sorry for Palmer.

"Gibbs..." she whined, "I was just trying to help."

"By lying? In case you haven't noticed, Abbs, you don't lie well. What made you think that you would be any better at it when you were lying for someone else?"

"Optimism."

"Next time, try to keep your _optimism _from making decisions that are bad for your ass. Got it?"

Oh, she got it alright. She got that what she really needed was _Gibbs_-proof glass.  


* * *

When Gibbs had finally finished with her, Abby decided that she had a bone to pick with a certain autopsy gremlin. And when she got over how amusing the pun she'd made by mistake was, she was going to act on it.

Now that her autopsy humor had been noted, she whipped out her cell phone to take care of business.

"Palmer you ratted me out "

She heard a long sigh from the other end.

"He already knew. I couldn't have done anything, Abby."

"Yeah, well-"

Ducky's irate voice could faintly be heard.

"Mr. Palmer! Why doesn't your professor recognize you?"

"Shit. Look Abby, I've gotta go."

"I'm not done with you yet, Palme-"

He'd hung up. First, he'd made her an accessory to a crime, and then he hung up on her. He got more and more like Gibbs everyday.

Two Gibbs. Wonderful, yet terrifying thought.

Abby shook her head. She had to stop going along with her coworkers ideas. She got in enough trouble with her own.

________  
Alright, there that is. I know that it seems like this gets pushed on the back-burner, but I take so long with this because Ducky and Jimmy are out of my comfort zone and I have to work hard to try and get them right.

I'm thinking about doing something with the Kevlar comment that I made in the last chapter. Maybe something where Abby does invest in some to take some edge off her spanking and Gibbs finds out? I don't know. It's still in the planning stages. What do you guys think?


End file.
